New reports written at the direction of President Biden review supply-chain vulnerabilities in semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, critical minerals and materials, and pharmaceuticals. They stress that support for innovation should be coupled strongly to domestic manufacturing incentives in order to bolster U.S. industry.
The Senate has confirmed Eric Lander as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lander is the 11th person to hold the job since Congress created it in 1976 and the first biologist.
Over four months, the Biden administration has built up climate policymaking capacity across federal agencies to advance agendas centered on climate change mitigation and resilience, environmental justice, and clean energy job creation.
The Senate is considering major expansions to research security policy as part of debate on the Endless Frontier Act, including a proposal to empower the government to block universities from accepting certain foreign gifts and contracts.
Eric Lander, tapped in January to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is now one of President Biden's last Cabinet officials yet to be confirmed. At his nomination hearing last month, Lander addressed controversies that prompted concerns among senators and defended his commitment to equity.
President Biden is asking Congress to jumpstart budgets for R&D programs across non-defense agencies in fiscal year 2022, with a focus on those connected to climate science, clean energy innovation, biomedical research, and emerging technologies.
Federal agencies are expanding disclosure requirements for the scientists they fund in response to a new research security policy from the White House, but are facing pushback from university groups concerned about the scope of information sought.
President Biden unveiled an infrastructure plan today that proposes spending more than $200 billion to boost the R&D capacity of the U.S., including by creating a technology-focused directorate within the National Science Foundation and a new national lab focused on climate.
President Biden has set in motion a wide-ranging review of federal scientific integrity policies and directed agencies to bolster their efforts to support evidence-based decision making.
Science policy was subject to a variety of pressures during the Trump administration, not least during the COVID-19 pandemic, though many science programs have thrived nonetheless, owing to bipartisan support in Congress.
